78 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



The blackberry can be treated very much the same as the rasp- 

 berry as regards planting and general cultivation. The best vari- 

 eties are Snyder, Agawam, Dorchester, and Early Harvest. Dew- 

 berries are being grown extensively in some parts of the country 

 and bid fair to become popular garden berries. The best varieties 

 are Lucretia and Windom. 



Currants and gooseberries are chiefly grown in the north and are 

 more important as cooked fruits than fresh. The large amount 

 of currant jelly, gooseberry jam and other products made from these 

 fruits will always keep them in demand, and the ease with which 

 they are grown will make them profitable. 



The currant is propagated by layers and cuttings, the latter 

 method being most common. The ripened wood is cut in the fall 

 into pieces six to eight inches long and is stored in a dry sandy cellar 

 during the winter. In the spring these cuttings are placed in a 

 bed out of doors and are well watered and mulched until they root. 

 They are then planted in rows and treated as any nursery stock. 

 The currant does well on any good garden soil, and one advantage 

 of it is that it can be planted in a young pear or apple orchard, thus 

 enabling the owner to get some returns from his land before the 

 pears or apples come into bearing. 



Set currant bushes at least four feet apart in the rows and the 

 rows six feet apart, and apply plenty of manure at the time of plant- 

 ing. The currant produces best on two and three-year-old wood and 

 all older wood should be removed. A satisfactory winter protection 

 is to bank up a foot of soil about the base of the bushes. The best 

 varieties are Fay's Prolific, Cherry, and Wilder, for red, and White 

 Grape and W'hite Imperial, for white. Black currants are little 

 used here except in ornamental planting, but Black Naples is 

 sometimes grown. The fruit is credited with some medicinal 

 properties. The common enemy of both the currant and goose- 

 berry is the currant worm. This must be carefully guarded against 

 or the tender leaves will be destroyed in a few hours. Spray the 

 bushes with a solution of Paris green, or arsenate of lead, or dust 

 them with hellebore, and look out Tor a second crop of worms. 



The gooseberry is not a popular fruit in America, but in England 

 it is highly prized and grows to a very large size. The only demand 

 for the gooseberry here is as a green fruit, and yet there is not a 



